This invention relates to a method of image processing capable of obtaining an image, which looks as if two photographic objects were photographed in the same shot by pasting together two images which are mostly the same in respect of the background image but different in the position of the objects, and an electronic camera.
There are often cases where plural persons go on a journey or the like and make snap shots; in such cases, generally speaking, it is inevitable that the person who makes the shot cannot become the object so far as it is not carried out a self-timer photographing with a tripod used. On the other hand, image processing technology has made progress, to put it into practice to paste plural images together. Hence, it is theoretically possible to add a shot-making person, who has not been able to be an object of photographing, in an image frame in which another person is the object by means of image processing.
For a conventional technology concerning an image processing as mentioned in the above, for example, the publication of the unexamined patent application 2000-036032 can be cited. This technology is such that a domain of a person is extracted by it that, first, only the background part is photographed, next, an image having the background with a person added, and makes the difference, and finally a composite image can be obtained by pasting the extracted domain of the person on the desired background image. However, according to such a technology, as described in the above, if it is intended to add a shot-making person who has not been able to be an object in an image frame in which another person has been the object, there is a problem that it is necessary to make three shots in total including a scene of only the background, which takes a time necessary for it.
Further, in the publication of the unexamined patent application H09-91409, a panoramic composition processing, in which overlapping end portions of two image frames are automatically connected, is disclosed. Further, in the publication of the unexamined patent application H05-161050, a digital still camera having an assistant means for connecting together two neighboring image frames is disclosed. However, these conventional technologies are ones for forming a panoramic image by pasting together the end portions of two different image frames; therefore, intrinsically it can not be employed in a use such that a shot-making person who has not been able to be an object of photographing is added in an image frame in which another person has been an object by means of image processing.